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" The tendency in comedy is to have a character who's stupid get more stupid, because you're trying to top yourself and not just repeat. "
Matt Groening
Stupid
Yourself
You
Related Quotes:
" I know for a fact, obviously, because my kids grew up watching the show, that there are some things they are introduced to from 'The Simpsons', and then later in life they see the thing we're parodying. My kids had not seen 'Casablanca,' and we'd done parodies of 'Casablanca.' "
Matt Groening
Life
Watching
Know
" Because good writing in a TV cartoon is so rare, I think the animation on The Simpsons is often overlooked. "
Matt Groening
Think
Rare
Writing
" Nihilism in American comedy came along way before 'The Simpsons.' There was a fairly nihilistic point of view to 'Saturday Night Live,' for instance, back in the beginning, and a lot of really dark comedy had a really anti-sentimental take on life. "
Matt Groening
Live
Life
Beginning
" I like the 'Simpsons' pinball machines. Those are pretty great. "
Matt Groening
Great
Pretty
Pinball
" I may be biting off more than I can chew, but with 'The Simpsons' and with 'Futurama,' what I'm trying to do in the guise of light entertainment, if this is possible - is nudge people, jostle them a little, wake them up to some of the ways in which we're being manipulated and exploited. "
Matt Groening
I Can
Light
People
" Don't have a cow, man. "
Matt Groening
Man
Cow
" I love the idea that we put in jokes the kids don't get. And that later, when they grow up and read a few books and go to college and watch the show again, they can get it on a completely different level. "
Matt Groening
Grow
Go
Love
" The really great thing about having two TV shows going on at the same time is that I can go to one and say that I have to go and visit the other, and then I can just go home, and they don't know. "
Matt Groening
Know
I Can
Home
" When The Simpsons came around, there really was nothing else like it on TV. It's hard to imagine, but when Fox first took the plunge with it, it was considered controversial to put animation on prime time. "
Matt Groening
Animation
Hard
Fox
" Our solution on 'The Simpsons' is to do jokes that people who have an education, or some frame of reference, can get. And for the ones who don't, it doesn't matter, because we have Homer banging his head and saying, 'D'oh!' "
Matt Groening
Solution
People
Education
" Donuts. Is there anything they can't do? "
Matt Groening
Donuts
Anything
" Well, most grown-ups forget what it was like to be a kid. I vowed that I would never forget. "
Matt Groening
Like
Never
Kid
" Sometimes people get mad at The Simpsons' subversive story telling, but there's another message in there, which is a celebration of making wild, funny stories. "
Matt Groening
Funny
Sometimes
Wild
" Back in high school, I wrote a novel about a character named Bart Simpson. I thought it was a very unusual name for a kid at the time. I had this idea of an angry father yelling 'Bart,' and Bart sounds kind of like bark - like a barking dog. "
Matt Groening
Time
Dog
Father
" 'The Simpsons' basically - and 'Futurama' - are really smart shows. They're kind of disguised as these goofy animated sitcoms, but the references within the shows, if you're paying attention, are pretty smart and pretty sophisticated. "
Matt Groening
Kind
Goofy
You
" I loved literary science fiction. In fact, as a kid, when I was reading science fiction, I thought 'I can't wait for the future when the special effects are good' to represent what was in these books by Arthur C. Clarke, Alfred Bester, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Jack Vance. "
Matt Groening
Reading
Thought
Future
" Love is a perky elf dancing a merry little jig and then suddenly he turns on you with a miniature machine gun. "
Matt Groening
Little
Dancing
You
" A lot of people believe that if everybody just did what they were told - obeyed - everything would be fine. But that's not what life is all about. That's not real. It's never going to happen. "
Matt Groening
People
Never
Real
" I've conducted an experiment on my kids. Instead of denying them access to media, I've encouraged it. They read comic books, play Nintendo and watch way too much TV. "
Matt Groening
Way
Media
Watch
" I grew up completely overwhelmed by TV, and part of the reason why I have gone into television is as a way to justify to myself all those wasted hours of watching TV as a kid. I can now look back and say, 'Oh, that was research.' "
Matt Groening
Say
Look
Television
" With 'Futurama,' I wanted to do unrequited love, and David Cohen agreed, and although our original plan was never to have Fry and Leela get together, we finally just said, 'You can only string the fans along so far.' "
Matt Groening
You
Love
Get Together
" I judge my life by how miserable it used to be. If I could pay my rent, I was deliriously happy. Now I'm deliriously happy all the time. "
Matt Groening
Judge
Happy
Time
" A lot of our writers, like Conan O'Brien, moved on to other things. "
Matt Groening
Like
Our
Lot
" We've been running a little behind schedule. But only by about 15 years or so. "
Matt Groening
Only
Years
Behind
" Most TV shows don't reward you for paying attention. "
Matt Groening
TV Shows
Most
Reward
" With 'Futurama,' I was just worried that somebody would beat us to it; it seemed so obvious that there should be an animated science fiction show set in the future. And one of the reasons why it's not, I learned, is that it's really, really difficult. "
Matt Groening
Show
Why
Difficult
" People go into cartooning because they're shy and they're angry. That's when you're sitting in the back of a classroom drawing the teacher. "
Matt Groening
Angry
People
Go
" I think 'Family Guy' and 'American Dad' have definitely staked out their own style and territory, and now the accusations are coming that 'The Simpsons' is taking jokes from 'Family Guy.' And I can tell you, that ain't the case. "
Matt Groening
You
American
Family
" Living creatively is really important to maintain throughout your life. And living creatively doesn't mean only artistic creativity, although that's part of it. It means being yourself, not just complying with the wishes of other people. "
Matt Groening
Life
Mean
Yourself
" I also found child's play - stuff that was not considered serious, but goofy - was the stuff I liked to do, so I still do it as an adult. "
Matt Groening
Child
Still
Serious